Blue Belle
by Gracegoddess
Summary: Bella is a mermaid that performs the tasks of keeping balance and peace between the mermaid world and the human world. But when she gets captured, how will she escape? Can she trust a very curious Cullen family with her secret? AH, except for the mermaids! Short chapters, fairly frequent updates.
1. Chapter 1

**Blue Belle**

**Chapter 1**

"What's going on, Janelle?" I asked, alarmed.

"We are getting reports from all over the world of our recruits going out on missions and never returning. Our retired land-dwellers say they have heard of no strange mermaid claims, except for the usual parks for kids who still believe in us make believe creatures. "

I nodded. I had been called into the DLS office (department for land secrecy) this morning on account of an alarming amount of missing mermaid reports.

I had been at home lounging around, feeding some stray dolphins when I had gotten the message. I had been alarmed when I got to the office to find that everyone had been called.

Everyone was buzzing about it, together trying to formulate some sort of plan for action. No one knew what to think of it.

We all hung around until the assistant supervisor told us we should all go home and rest up for tomorrow, they were going to send some mermaids out tommorow as spies for awhile.

So I went home.

The next day I was called into work and when I got into the send off room, I discovered that I had a new assignment.

At first, my whole body was full of dread at the possibility that it might be a spy mission. I was a terrible spy and knew that it had to be a desperate situation if they were sending me out.

I was wrong. I was being sent out on a routine mission to help some poor turtle that was fell asleep in the water and was frozen into a lake overnight.

I was both relieved and shocked. It was a regular, normal, mundane task. I was also shocked. Things must be going well if I was being put in charge of rescuing a turtle.

I had no other choice but to go. So I would.

I picked up a communicator so that if I got into trouble I could phone for some help. That was unlikely, but who knows.

Quickly, I typed in the area code for my transporter, and laid down on the platform before closing my eyes to keep from getting nauseas from witnessing my transportation.

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**Thanks for reading. **

**Short chapters, faster updates. This story will hopefully help improve my revising skills. **

**For those who have read my previous story, The Secret Keeper, I cannot guarantee that I will ever finish the last chapter, but maybe. **

**TTFN**

**Write on! **

**Gracegoddess**


	2. Chapter 2

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 2 **

I gasped and spluttered for a good few minutes before I finally recovered. I was aware that I was laying in a bed of grass, so I shot up and looked around.

I was by the shore of a small body of water. A pond. It was only one thirds frozen over.

Getting up, I shivered. The wind was rough and cold. I only had a small, white wrap as a skirt and a mini white wrap around my chest. It just barely reached my belly button.

I looked around at the water. It was only a light, slush like ice that covered it, and upon throwing a rock discovered it to be escapable. Also, there was no turtle.

I was immediately suspicious.

Not wanting to call a false alarm and be through, I took a walk around the perimeter of the pond. It was only so big, and it appeared that there was no turtle. Deciding that the office had made a mistake, like it sometimes does. Or if the turtle had escaped- I called for return.

"Hello, Gretchen?"

All I heard was static.

Looking confusedly at the communicator, all I saw was a blank screen.

Now, all I could do was stubble around the perimeter and search for an answer to my call.

"Hello? Jest?"

"Hello? Gabby?"

"Hello?"

Anybody?

I slumped on a tree, sliding to the ground. I was tired already, because of the wind. It dried my skin, making me cold and dehydrated.

I got off the ground and started moving forward.

Somewhere.

Anywhere.

All of the sudden, I felt a presence behind me, and panicking, spun around.

I was splashed with water.

I fell to the ground as my dry brown hair instantly darkened to black and my tail appeared as a shimmery blue, the fin a light shade of yellow, like Dori from Nemo.

Before I could process anything else, from the person to my wheezing, I was knocked unconscious.

**Thanks for reading. **

**Write on! **

**Gracegoddess **


	3. Chapter 3

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 3**

When I awoke, I was laying on the bottom of a huge glass tank. As I swam upward, I looked out the glass but could only see a few feet in front of the tank due to the dim lights. I was most definitely indoors, but where?

I swam around the perimeter of the tank. It was very large height wise, but it was not even a quarter of its height in width.

I pounded on the glass, trying to get the attention of someone so that I could figure out where I was, and why I was here.

I was right. With my obnoxious pounding on the glass, a man entered. He was about 6'4, with long blond hair and a malevolent smile on his face.

"Why, sleeping beauty is finally awake!" He smiled impossibly wider.

"I suppose you are wondering where you are," he continued. I could not help but think that this was some sort of game to him. It reminded me a lot of all those 'good guy/bad guy' things. "I know about mermaids. I have for a while. I spent most of that time perfecting my methods for infiltration of the mermaid world."

I gasped-no, I take that back. Because I was in fresh water, it was more like a bubble and a fish face. No wonder there had been missing mermaids! All I could do was hope that he wasn't too informed.

He was so sure of himself though. I paused with the comfort that humans tended to be cockier, even if they don't know everything.

"You are the prettiest one. I'm glad. I'm ready to slowly start leaking you out to the public."

His smile faded and he started to appear more thoughtful. Now, without that evil villain smile on his face, he looked truly knowledgeable-and capable of horrible things.

"I shall call your kind of mermaid…Blue Belle, for your coloring."

**Thanks for reading. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 4 **

"Right this way, people!"

It had been a week in this hell that James called his mermaid sanctuary.

Right, sanctuary my ass.

You could say I have become bitter in my short time here in this hell, and that would be untrue. I was a little more than bitter, but I was not, by any means, hateful. Vengeful, thirsty for blood.

I would sate my thirst. The longer I was in this hell, the longer I wanted for it.

He was give people previews, the first one ever, of a mermaid. He had others, but he seemed to think I was more of what people expected in a mermaid than the others that he had caught.

I was the youngest, the freshest, the most fit. He head never though that he would get one so perfect so soon.

When I had arrived I had used echolocation to determine if there were others. There were.

He showed my pictures. It was horrid, because he experimented on them. They were like lab rats to him; I was for show.

One was a middle aged mermaid-not trueborn, made immortal as a mermaid likely by accident or request.

One was a nerdy, brains before beauty type. Her hair chopped uneven, her complexion marred. He must not have seen her beauty as worthwhile before he started experimentation. Her tail was yellow, a very mustard yellow.

Then there was I. I was perfect for show because I had all the stereotypes placed on mermaids: unearthly beauty, pale, long hair.

Not all mermaids are like that.

But I also had a wicked temper, to which he found out when I about snapped his neck with my fangs.

Yes, we have fangs. These fangs reside behind the front teeth and typically stay hidden unless we are threatened.

And for a while, that almost never happened.

**Thank you for reading. **

**Write on,**

**Gracegoddess **


	5. Chapter 5

**Blue Belle**

**Chapter 5**

I was used to the gasps and awed breaths at first site from the adults. They had long since stopped believing in us, so their stereotyping came from that knowledge from childhood, but their real impression came from when they actually see one.

But the kids…they were a different story.

They didn't come that often. Weather it was because James only opened later at night, (James was a living example of a nocturnal human), possibly because his whole sanctuary was not what the humans expected. It was less rainbows and giggles and more dank zoo type of thing.

Anyway, when the kids did come, I always was caught off-guard. I tried to make the humans as uninterested and as cautious around us as they are with sharks, but when I saw a little one cower in fright at my hissing and elongated fangs, I froze up. My aggression disappeared with no trace. I would gradually examine the innocent faces of those who still believed in mermaids as gentile creatures, and I could not-_ not-_smile!

I only presented the smallest of grins, but with that one reassuring expression, they disregard the fact that I had earlier been hissing and flashing razor sharp fangs.

Like now.

With this tiny girl, hands on the glass, staring wide-eyed into the tank with the most excited expression of any of them.

She also just happened to be the cutest little girl ever. Like-'_awwww'_ inspiring kind of cute.

I had already revealed my soft side to a little boy earlier this week. I had blown him a kiss.

So when this little cutie came, I could not help but swim up to the glass, smile warmly, and wave.

For a short period of time, she looked like she was in shock, but then, with the utmost hesitance, waved back. I smiled at her again, and her smile widened so that it stretch across the whole width of her face.

These humans are so cute!

**Thanks for reading. **

**Write on. **

**Gracegoddess**


	6. Chapter 6

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 6**

What was next, after my imprisonment and ire? Nothing more, I suppose. There was one more thing about mermaids you must know-freshwater is not where we belonged.

It was not like we were complete seawater fish, and we would die if not in seawater! We could certainly adjust.

But as the circumstances go for us, is most comparable to how you humans live. In houses. For us, being in salt water, at first, felt ok. We could stay there for amounts of time. However, like humans when they are trapped indoors to long, they want for fresh air more and more as time deteriorates.

To mermaids, after being in fresh water for a while, being in seawater was like a breath of fresh air. Our bodies accepted it better than freshwater, because (like fresh air), it was not still-it was constantly being refreshed and cleans with all the sea creature that are apart of OUR ecosystem.

It had been two weeks, and I knew easily that my sanity was waning with every passing second. All I could think was of a way to get out of this purgatory-but James was so through!

This building was one of concrete with those high up windows that you only see in jails.

Because like I said, it was not a sanctuary. It was a prison.

Most of day, I lay hopelessly on the bottom of the tank and reminisced on my life before.

Despite the fact that it was not that far away, all I could think was that it was ages ago! At least, that's the way it felt.

One could not blame me. If you've ever had something bad happen to you, you know that time can become completely reversed, that your ability to determine distances is vaguely inaccurate. Those bad things weaken you like an overdose of alcohol. They make you weak.

That's what I was really afraid of. My weakness. I must not be weak. James would not get the best of me, and I would make sure that I fixed this.

However, my mind whispered, you are going to have to do so with both a exponentially burdened and sorrowfully bare heart.

**Thanks for reading! **

**ForeverTwilightSaga05; I got the idea of the concrete building from your story, The Newborn, because it fit in mine as well. Hope you don't mind! **

**RECOMMENDATION; I recommend The Newborn by ForeverTwilightSaga05 to any and all people reading my story. It has the most interesting plot of any of the stories I have read in a while! **

**Write On! **

**-Gracegoddess**


	7. Chapter 7

**Blue Belle**

**Chapter 7**

"Whosoever trespasses on the verge on insanity shall either fall to the greatest pit of hell or rise out of the ashes as more than a conqueror."

-Ancient Mermaid proverb

("Whosoever trespasses on the verge of insanity shall either fall into the greatest pit of hell or rise out of the ashes as more than a conqueror.")

It had been a month since I had left home, and now all I could do was think longingly of it.

I had learned three things about James. First, he was starving me. I had not eaten. I think he assumed that as a supernatural being that eating was not a necessity for me.

Secondly, he was not veridical man in the least. He was constantly tricking me, gaining peoples trust and screwing them over in the end.

Thirdly, he was malevolent inside and out. He was evil. He tortured the poor mermaids in his lab daily with his cruel scientific methods.

I tried to find something worth living through but to no avail!

However, one day, my world was altered; a certain person came to the mermaid prison.

A boy-no, a young man.

**EPOV**

I was very critical when my family told me what we would be doing this weekend.

A mermaid sanctuary? I didn't believe in mermaids, and I knew that Carlisle didn't either, but unfortunately his curiosity got the better of him.

So I was going to see a real, live, MERMAID! Or that's how the brochure advertised it at the hospital.

When I got there, it felt like I was going to visit a prison, not a mermaid sanctuary. I was wary of the place. It even set Carlisle on edge.

On account of his wariness, Carlisle decided to leave most of my siblings at home, choosing to bring only Jasper and I. Emmet would come if he was not involved in wrestling this season.

Anyway, I was bored to tears when we were led to the information and history of mermaids. I knew most of the stuff already. I'm not saying that I ever believed any of it, I'm just saying that I was informed.

It was almost the end of the tour when they told us we were going to finally see the mermaid.

Even my interest was peaked.

Opening the doors to what appeared to be the very back of the building, I came into contact with the warmest chocolate brown orbs I'd ever seen.

A mermaid.

**Thanks for reading. **

**More EPOVS for the future! **

**Write on!**

**-Gracegoddess**


	8. Chapter 8

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 8**

When the last round of tourists came, I was not prepared, after such a long hard day, for my eyes to meet such enchanting orbs of sea green. These eyes, they bore into mine, and suddenly all the other tourists didn't really matter. I was under a spell.

He stared at me, too, as he stepped closer. As he moved closer and closer, I examined him from head to foot.

He was like the God of the Sea, the way he looked and how he enchanted me.

I watched his bronze locks shift as he stepped closer still.

When he stopped, I swam up to the glass to get a better look in the dim light, and I was suddenly aware of the many eyes, lenses and camera fronts that stared at me.

Startled and shook up, I turned away.

Then, I began occupying myself with the usual. Swimming in a few trillion circles.

When I get to bored with it, I swum up, down, then upside-down.

I looked like a seal, more likely than not, but it was much less fascinating than if I were to water bend or do a little hydromancy at random.

I stopped my constant seal like movements when I sensed that the crowd had flooded out.

I was relieved.

However, upon turning around, I discovered that Green Eyes was still standing there.

I was curious by nature, so I swam straight up the glass wall of the tank and stared at Green Eyes.

He stared back, his gaze never faltering.

Just then, James entered, and I backed away from the glass, immediately scared and intimidated.

Green Eyes still stood there, and I only just though to warn him to get away, when I realized that they were talking.

"…. Don't you think?" Green Eye's velvety voice startled me when I put my ear up the glass.

"How do you know?" James sounded curious and perturbed. His interest was caught. But about what?

"I can tell. Can't you. She's so underweight, even my father, Carlisle, a doctor, knows no man or beast should ever be so underweight."

Why were they talking about my weight? Was I really that skinny?

I was so occupied by peaking a look at my stomach, that I just bare ly caught the next question.

"….like to work for me?"

WHAT?

**Thanks for reading! **

**Write on! **

**-Gracegoddess**


	9. Chapter 9

**Blue Belle**

**Chapter 9**

**EPOV**

"No! No. Listen, Edward…no! No! Just…NO!"

Esme was going ballistic! I had never seen her so upset. Esme was a calm woman, who was the picture of elegance and took everything with careful consideration and equal prudence.

Not the woman that stood in front of me. Even Carlisle was standing a good distance away from the hysterical Esme. He would comfort her when he knew that getting close was not a safety hazard.

I had thought about James' offer very carefully the whole way home and in the end resolved that this was a good thing. I could help that poor mermaid. I could see her everyday and I could figure out why she looked so sickly, scared, and on edge- (who am I kidding, I was set on edge by James!)-And help ease her ailments.

Also, I had to admit that I was very attracted to the supposed mythical creature. She was enchanting.

Then, when I got home, I had admitted that James had offered me this position as a manger of the sanctuary. I had immediately wanted to accept, a whole half of me was screaming it. The other half was scared of James.

So I said I would think about it. Esme was immediately decided that she did not approve and would rather I went to observe Carlisle in operating room.

I refused.

I wanted to work there, and in the end I knew I would. Esme was just worried.

Since I was old enough to make my own decisions, Carlisle said that I could. With a smile, he told me,

"Be careful," as I was walking out the door.

Mentally, I responded with an 'always'.

So that's how I found myself driving to the mermaid sanctuary on one of it's many days that it was closed.

Entering James' office was like a little kid opening the closet door that they knew contained a monster, and had to gather up every once of courage just to reach for the handle.

Upon entering the normal business office, I mentally chastised myself for being so hesitant. I was working for James now-I must be brave.

Sitting down, we first discussed things that pertain to a normal job; pay, income, hours, absences, insurance.

Then he told me what my job would consist of.

He told me that I could do anything that I wanted pertaining her wellbeing, as long as she was kept under a careful eye and not taken out of her tank.

I then asked, "How am I supposed to find out what she wants to eat? How can I communicate with her?"

James smiled in a way that made my skin crawl, and lounging back in his office chair with his hands behind his head, replied.

"That's your job to figure out."

**Thanks for reading. **

**I know some of you want him to rescue her really soon, but I don't think its going to happen within "the next two chapters" (from the last chapter). I'm sorry to say that the story writes itself. I know that it will happen eventually, but my plan is for them to bond-then, after that, she will get out of James' grasp. **

**Write on!**

**-Gracegoddess**


	10. Chapter 10

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 10**

**BPOV**

I was rather stunned as I stared out of the glass and to the God that stood outside of it.

James would never….

…no body would ever…

….job?

…here?

…who…

…in their right mind?...

It was like that for about ten minutes until I realized that the God had already gone home and James had retired for the night.

Damn.

It's not like I minded the idea of seeing that man more, but to have him caught under James' web of nightmares was something I would want for no one-even someone as evil as James.

That I knew for sure.

James must have been raised by the devil, in hell, where he belongs.

If I ever got out of this purgatory I would kill him. He deserved much more than that, but the world deserved no less that to have rid of people like him.

That's the way it should be.

But, then again, are things ever as they should be?

I knew the answer to that-it was clear, really-but I chose to deny it.

So, under power of the full moon, I was lulled into a rest.

The next morning, I was awakened by the sound of James coming up out of his evil lab and into the main showcase room, where I was.

Stretching, I swam up to the glass to look at the vile man with disgust. I could do nothing about it, not now anyway.

James walked up to me and regarded me with a cold stare and pursed lips.

I stared at him back with as much hate as I could muster.

Hate. I disliked the word, but it was true, I hated James with a fury that we mermaids were taught to avoid.

When we were young, mermaid were taught that hate was a poison that the human nature produced to reek havoc on the world.

Hate was something that we were to only use if it was absolutely deserved.

We were to be fair. It was up to the humans to decide weather to hate our kind or not. Hate was something we mermaid had in us, just as a human does, but hate was never to be released in full. Hate was a retched illness that infected your body and made you do rash and terrible things.

Hate is too easy. Love, love takes courage.

A courage that in me had run dry.

I wanted to regain it, but I was not sure that that was ever going to happen.

Later that day, he came in. I could hear is car pull up, and his whole conversation with James.

He had accepted.

After that, he entered the showroom with a practiced smile on his face, but I could read the anxiousness in his gaze. The nervousness to have this job and to figure me out-and the excitement for the same reasons.

He was afraid of me.

Maybe not me in particular, but the whole idea of what he and to accomplish on his own. What my reaction would be of him-so, really, he was afraid of me.

"Um…hello." He began, his voice a little shaky.

I stared at him for a moment, and after reading his heartfelt intentions decided to wave.

My small gesture must've been enough of an encouragement, because he stepped closer and continued with his introduction.

"My name is Edward."

His simple statement had my mind reeling.

Edward.

My brain mentally repeated it. It had a ring to it that somehow gave me a funny feeling in my stomach, a pleasant one, unlike James.

Actually, other that James, Edward was the first human name that I knew.

It felt good.

Edward, Edward, Edward.

Edward.

I smiled.

Edward stared at me for a while after my smile, then rubbed the back of his neck while shifting his feet anxiously.

"Um, what's your name?"

I thought for a minute. How to tell him?

Oh! I breathed on the glass and wrote BELLA.

"What?"

I looked at it awhile longer and realized I had wrote it in mermaid symbols.

Erasing it, I breathed on the glass again and tried to make a legible BELLA backwards, hoping that he could read it.

Edward took a long exhale, and hearing his breathing falter, I looked up at him, concerned.

He looked awe-stricken.

"Bella….that's a beautiful name."

Well, I thought, easier to write than Isabella.

I smiled, the widest I had in a long, long time.

**Woah! Really went to town on that chapter. I just….couldn't stop writing. It was so much fun to write! I hope you enjoyed it! **

**Thanks for reading! **

**Write on! **

**-Gracegoddess**


	11. Chapter 11

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 11**

**EPOV**

"I am not spending that much money just so you can talk face-to-face with that manipulative creature!"

I'll admit, the irrational part of me wanted to get mad at James for calling Bella a manipulative creature, however, that would be contrary to my cause.

I would remain calm.

"It would not only be for just talking to her, you see. I must gain her trust. If I gain her trust, she will open up to me! I know for a fact that there is a lot of things that we don't understand about her and her kind!"

James was considering.

You see, I was trying to convince him to buy a tank that could be accessed like all the tanks in the marine parks could-by the top. I had planned it carefully after having tried in vain to communicate with Bella.

It was impossible!

So I had done my research and found some tanks that would fit in the room that she was given and would alternitivly have a deck at the top that would open and close so that she could come up to the top of the tank and we could talk.

She had been trying, as credit is due to her, but there was not much that she could contribute to the conversation underwater like that.

I had so many questions!

Where all mermaids mute underwater? How, then, do they communicate? What do they eat? How did they live? Were mermen real too?

My head was bursting with them.

"I don't know, Edward. That would be a huge blow to our profits. You know, as much as it is to get in, and as many people do come, there are a lot of critics in the world-enough to put me out of business if they come asking for taxes and we're off spending money like we're made of it!"

I hated that. I despised the way that his main concern was always his profits. Any business must be concerned about such things, I understand, but this was not really a business. It should be an observation place where he actually put in the effort to learn about the poor creature before putting her out for show!

I also knew for a fact that his father had been a billionaire and left him enough money to make him comfortable for a long, long time.

And he was griping about profits?

"I'll do whatever I must, sir. Cut my salary enough to keep your profits up if that's what you want. I don't need the money."

He looked interested now.

"Alright. No pay for two weeks or more depending on how much this new tank costs. One-day installation. No mess. No trouble from the creature. Deal?"

I knew that this job has such high pay that two weeks alone was much more than James needed for compensation, but who cares. I had finally gotten him to agree and I was not pushing my luck with him.

"Deal."

**Extreme apologies, my dear readers, for the filler chapter! Thank you so much for reading anyway. You like the idea of a new tank? Let me know what you think!**

**Also, please be patient with the pace of the storyline. THEY WILL BOND FIRST!**

**Thank You! **

**Write on! **

**-Gracegoddess**


	12. Chapter 12

**Blue Belle**

**Chapter 12**

**BPOV**

I was more than shocked when Edward came up to the glass and showed me a picture of a new tank they were installing for me.

All I could think was _how did he pull that off?_

I knew that that tank could not come cheap, to James or himself. I hated that he must have had to make a huge sacrifice for me. I owed him now. Mermaid Golden rule; never let any thing go as a free favor-especially to a mortal.

Well, what could I say? I knew he was doing this from me, and I would be eternally grateful.

Edward looked at me through the glass, questioning me about how James got me in and out of this tank.

When I though about it, I realized that I couldn't recall the actual event of my capture, or encasement, however I knew the only way that James would do it.

Quickly, I swam to the bottom of the tank and pointed to a drain in the bottom that had been painted over and well hidden. He peered in, and it took him a few minutes to see it, but then he didn't understand.

Sighing, I went over to the very back corner of the tank and pointed outside of it to a sign by a lever that said DRAIN.

He smiled wide. Then slapped his forehead in a joking gesture. When he saw I was not smiling, he sobered up.

"Trust James to make such a impractically but secure choice of tank."

He sighed.

Just then, James walked in.

When he saw the Edward had figured out how to get me out of the tank, he frowned. He recovered quickly.

"You must restrain her once she changes. Otherwise, she will run. She'll deceive you, Edward. She'll play with your trust, just so she can get back to the sea."

EPOV

I wanted to tell him so badly that that's what I wanted for her. To be free where she belongs, but I couldn't. I wanted to tell him that at least she would deceive my trust for her well being, to get away from you. James would deceive me to get what he wanted.

But I didn't.

Pulling a coiled rope from a box at the base of the tank, he threw it at me.

I just watched him wordlessly as he smirked at me and left the room.

I pulled the lever, and watched as the water drained. I knew it would take awhile.

Backing up from the lever, I looked at Bella. She stared back.

I had to believe that she would not deceive me. I wanted to, but to tell you the truth, I knew that she had the ability, and the right, to deceive my trust to get away and leave me to deal with James.

Though nothing had happened yet, I knew that it would.

I just hoped that it wouldn't hurt Bella in the process.

**Sorry that I took so long to post this chapter! The days flew by faster than I could take a spare minute to write. **

**The next chapters will hopefully go faster, speed through this part of the story and get the whole thing moving. **

**If you'd give me a day, maybe I could caome up with a good plan for the future of this story, instead of posting such slow chapters. They make me want to fall asleep, and I even wrote them! **

**Write on! **

**-Gracegoddess**


	13. Chapter 13

**Blue Belle**

**Chapter 13**

**BPOV **

After James left, Edward pinched his nose in an odd gesture that I did not recognize, but when he raised his eyes to meet mine, they were filled with an emotion that was very close to confliction.

Then he sat down on the floor, not letting his eyes stray from mine.

It was a very unnerving stare. It was like he was looking into my soul.

When I couldn't take his stare anymore, I used the draining water as entertainment. At first I just watched it swirl, but then I had a great idea.

Feeling the swirl, I started to flow with it, swimming at first then wiggling my body around and pretending that I was being sucked down the drain.

He laughed. It was a beautiful sound.

I watched from the very bottom of the tank as the last drops of water drained down the drain. It brought a rush of sadness to me, and I sighed.

As my tale evaporated, and I was wrapped in white wrap that felt like it had shrunk.

Great.

Wrapping my arms around myself, I shivered at the temperature of it. I was cold, dirty, and hungry.

Hungry being the most prominent of feelings. Suddenly, my heart started accelerating, and my sight got dizzy, and unclear.

My breathing became labored, and my heartbeat became too loud in my ears.

Everything was black.

**Teaser chapter! Thank you to all of those who reviewed and PM'ed me, you helped me so much. I would have updated earlier, however I was away this weekend for snow camp. **

**Fun! **

**Anyway, with the Super Bowl XXVII, I have lots of time to update, and I just wanted to replace my A/N as soon as possible. **

**I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU HANGING! I promise! **

**-Gracegoddess**


	14. Chapter 14

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 14**

**EPOV**

My heart was going at a nervous pace, I was nervous beyond reason. This was the first time that I was going to see her, touch her, and talk to her.

And I had to play bad guy and restrain her.

I really didn't want to. My instincts yelled at me that she was a lady, and that she should be treated as such.

Witnessing her change was extraordinary, and I was momentarily distracted form the imminent, awkward situation.

She was extraordinarily beautiful.

Deep down, I knew that she was supposed to look like an angel, that most mermaids used that to their advantage.

I had to be cautious. She was a seductress.

Something told me different, though.

I wasn't sure that led me to believe different.

Her kind was new to me, and though I was curious, I was also scared. Terrified, actually.

I gazed at her evenly, not registering that anything could be amiss until she was swaying a little, her hands on the floor clenching it with a death grip.

What?

Her head swayed and when I investigated further, she was zoned out.

By the time that my mind registered to move forward and help her, she alarmingly passed out cold on the floor.

Opening the side of the tank, I stepped into the threshold and didn't even pause to register the wetness as I dropped down, crouching awkwardly in front of her.

Seeing as she had been sitting up on the floor with her legs extended and knees slightly bent- very mermaid like- she was now laying almost the same way with her legs, but her upper body was twisted awkwardly so that she looked more like a corpse.

And a corpse she was. Lightly brushing my fingers over her abdomen, I only felt soft damp skin and bones.

It was clear why she had passed out-she was malnourished.

Starved. Starved by James who carelessly even could not stop counting his cash for one second to even care about Bella.

With that though, I was consumed in silent rage and fuming in visible ire.

_Help her! _My conscious told me. It really was no time to waste on anger.

With a few breaths out and in through my nose, I slipped my arms gently under her to bony body and carried her out of the tank.

Looking around, the only place I saw to put her was the wooden chair that James had put in the room to tie her to, and a bench.

I didn't want to put her on either because the chair would not support her enough,

She would be really dizzy when she woke-as well as an achy head because she had minor bruising on the back of her head from fainting.

Where could I take her?

Suddenly the image of a very comfortable couch came to mind in James lounge room. I knew that he would be ticked off that I used it, but I decided as long as I restrained her it was going to be ok.

I was rather lucky on that standpoint also. Because of malnutrition, she would be fatigued and dizzy, but would also have a killer headache. That way I would not have to worry about her geeing away for a while.

I didn't really want to confront James on that standpoint.

Ever.

So after gently laying her down on the couch, I called home.

I needed some help.

And maybe a shrink.

When did life get so complex?

**Ok, so a lot of you wanted them to talk right? **

**Well, that was my intention, I swear! I know that they will talk too, that's a guarantee, but I went at writing these chapters and somehow she ended up fainting from starvation. **

**Somehow. **

**It feels right, so I just kind of went with it. **

**Seriously, if you have any problems with them not talking yet, let me know. **

**Or if you like the idea. **

**Tell me how you feel- I'll be waiting…**

**Goal-40 reviews! **

**Thanks for reading! **

**Write on! **

**-Gracegoddess**


	15. Chapter 15

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 15**

**BPOV**

With a groan, I awakened, managing to bang my head off something hard and metal while also getting my arm twisted in some cold, thin thing.

I was writhing on my unknown resting place (well, writhing as much as possible with how weak I felt) and soon I heard a vaguely familiar voice exclaim-

"Whoa there!"

And promptly helped me with my situation and got me settled back down. I was on the verge of a panic attack when I found that it was practically impossible to open my eyes.

"It's alright! I promise! Its Edward." At the name, I relaxed, feeling suddenly less panicky. "You fainted from malnutrition. I can presume that the change is the reason you fainted, because your body did not have enough energy to supply the change and keep you conscience and moving. I have also prescribed that until you have gained you energy again, you are to be confined to rest, regular and increased meals, as well as antibiotics if I can get my hands on some. "

I was speechless. I had no idea why he was taking all this bother, anyway. I was as good as dead to the mermaid world anyway.

It goes like this.

Though I have decent looks and am fairly intelligent, I was born into a very low class family and therefore was not given the adequate schooling to do, as I wanted. I got stuck with the leftover job.

I had a difficult life growing up because my father was not present in any sense of the world-he actually wanted nothing to do with me.

But that doesn't matter now.

I have some casual friends at work that are really nice, but this is how it goes-if a mermaid is sent to the surface and is reported missing, they will only wait a month or so before it becomes rather plain to see that they are dead.

Mermaids don't and can't, survive in the human world. The rarely ever come back when reported missing,

"Can you try to open your eyes for me, hon.?"

He said this in a very condescending tone that made me want to cross my arms and huff indignantly.

But it was a good idea, so I eased my eyes open, only to come face to face with the green orbs.

Edward.

"Hmm…." I mused aloud. "A very pleasant sight indeed." I smiled cockily him and he stood, inclining his head to the ceiling as to cover up his blush.

How amusing.

With a gruff grunt, I watched with curiosity as he rubbed the back of his neck and ran his hand through his hair.

It was rather surprising, actually. It was an odd gesture to me, but for him it seemed rather natural, like an idiosyncrasy.

We were taught in school that humans have these things that they do to stimulate their nerves, as opposed to just standing still like any creature on this earth can do.

We were not taught about human nature, only human behavior-mostly warning signs. Some higher-ranking mermaids learn more about human nature that I ever did simply because they need it.

"So…." His still gruff voice awaked me from my dazed state.

I was aware that my muscles were achy from the very moment I woke up. However, just now, I found that all of the ache was concentrated to one area-my bottom half.

Suddenly expectant, I looked down to wear I expected to see a tail, in place of it I saw to legs that I had not seen in the longest time.

I stretched them. Raising my arms above my head to revel my abdomen, the T-shirt I was currently wearing bunching up as I stretched.

After wiggling my toes, I looked at what I was wearing as well. I still had my chest wrap on and it served very well as a bra.

So how did I get in these shorts and T-shirt?

Looking at him expectantly I was irritated when I found him dazed and instead sniffed the shirt to find a multiple of scents.

There was Edward-easy enough.

There were also two more people whose scents resembled Edward. His siblings and parents, I think. People who spend a lot of time around him.

A girlfriend?

¡Como no!

Why would he notbe single? He was a piece of human artwork! A beautiful site to behold!

Finally, I spoke.

"Who has clothed me?"

I said this very simply, so that maybe he would not be embarrassed if he had. I was not accusing him of anything. I was simply curious.

He appeared abashed again as he rubbed the back of his neck and his checks tinted red.

"I didn't…I swear! My sister and mother dressed you! I…I mean thought you might want..I…I mean-"

"Thank you." I said quietly.

"What?'

"Thank you. You are a true gentlemen to think of my decentsy."

"Really, it was no big deal, you deserve no less than-"

"REALLY, a simple 'your welcome' would have been enough."

"Right."

Then, hesitantly, he continued.

"Well, I got you some human food, though I'm not sure what you would eat as a mermaid I assumed that eating human food as a human would be good. I mean, I don't think that it would be ideal for you to have a feeding tube, so we must get food in you, immediately.

"I hope you like McDonalds'."

Honest, I had no idea what McDonalds was.

But I didn't care.

This human cared for me more thoughtfully in these few days than anyone has in my entire life.

I could not comprehend why, but I was grateful.

How could someone make such a singularly deep impression on my heart?

**Ok, so I know that took me so long, but this chapter is 900 words. I hope you like it. **

**Special thanks to all those who helped me in developing ideas for this story, and to ****galyardt**** for the help in planning out the story to come. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**-Gracegoddess**


	16. Chapter 16

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 16 **

**Ok, so this is long in waiting, but I want to get this story moving. As a result of my long in waiting, I am now going to accelerate the pace a little, just so I can get ahead. **

**Thank you, to all those who have been patient with me.**

**So, here's a Word of the Day for you! **

**Discomfit-**** v. to frustrate the plans of: thwart. *2. To put into a state of perplexity and embarrassment: disconcert. **

**Sorry of you already know this word, but still…it's a good word.**

**Oh! I do now have a legitimate reason to have not updated sooner, or as soon as I was finished with this. My network wasn't reason and I literally couldn't get my chapter to load into my docs! It was so frustrating! Anyway, if and when I get this chapter up, enjoy! **

**Bella**

When I bite into the juicy burger, I feel the juice ooze down my chin, but I am too aroused by the alien taste to care about my unattractive, savage eating of this burger.

I hear Edward chuckle as I pig out, but I'm enjoying it too much to care.

Why have we mermaids not made food like this?

Oh yeah.

Anyway, Edward moves me back to the tank before James knows I was in his office.

It's been a long weekend.

Edward goes home early, because it was supposed to be his day off. He says that he wants to stay with me to make sure I'm ok, but I tell him that I'm fine, that he should go home and relax, do human things.

I know he has been overworking himself.

I also feel guilty because he hardly ever gets a day off, and he doesn't even have to be here in the first place, so why is he?

So, begrudgingly, he goes home.

I know I am the reason that his family never sees him, and if he stays, he will yet again discomfit the plans of his family to go out with him.

Here, he has no life.

I am selfish enough, that after he leaves to want him back. His warm, amiable company does keep me sane, after all.

What would I do without him?

**Edward**

I go home, and I find myself tired. More tired, in fact, than I've ever been in my life. I know I have been working a little hard, these past few weeks, but it always makes me feel good.

Despite my physical exhaustion, all I can think is that fact that I have never felt more fulfilled in my life.

Now, I have a purpose. Now, I have motivation.

I feel alive.

As I walk up to my room, I find myself again thinking of her, of Bella. She consumes my thoughts. She invades my dreams.

My dreams are constantly worried, focused on her.

As I lay on my bed, I fall asleep thinking about her.

_I am in the mermaid room. It is very dimly it, making it harder to see her tank. Actually, I can't see her. There is a section of the tank that remains unlit. _

_I search the tank for her, because suddenly, I am in front of it. I peer in, and I do not see her. I panic. I call her name. _

"_Bella!" _

"_Edward." It is a whispered call, so I'm not sure how I hear it, but still, I whip around. There, down the extended mermaid room, at it's very entrance, she stands. _

_In human form, in my mother's clothes. _

"_Bella!" I whisper back. _

"_EDWARD!" She screams, as James appears from the darkness behind her and snatches her up, embracing her, pressing her to his chest in an iron grip. _

"_Bella!" I yell. But suddenly, my cries are muffled. Bella has quieted, a very disconcerting look passing over her bright eyes, a veil of resignation. Suddenly, I am pulled away, and turning around on instinct, all I see is white. It blinds he, and I cry out in surprise. _

_I am in an all white room, and I am freezing. _

_My throat burns like someone went and put a hot coal down it, and I find myself starving. Like I haven't eaten in ages. _

_Then, there is an elk in front of me, and, in animalistic, blinding moment, I lung. _

_I am now sitting cross-legged in that same white room. _

_I am no longer cold. _

_I am no longer hungry. _

_The white room is no longer white, it is red, splattered red. _

_The carcass of the dead elk lay in my lap. _

_I see a mirror in front of me. _

_I see red, too. Red eyes. Glaring, gleaming red eyes. _

_The eyes of a demon. _

I wake up, gasping and griping my face, frightened.

"Edward, Edward, Edward! EdwARD! EDWARD!"

Emmet bursts into my room, just as I'm about to reply.

He has an overjoyed look on his face, and he sobers as soon as he sees my wrinkled clothes, my sweat covered brow, and my furrowed face.

"Get ready, man." He says. "We're going to a club tonight, all of us. Carlisle and Esme went to a dinner for Carlisle's work, and this is our one chance to go! Come on! Be ready to PAR-TAY!"

He has grown excited at the end, and with a forced smile, I get up, deciding I need a night to relax, to unwind. This worry has gone to far. James will not harm her. He can't. She is his sole source of money.

The nightmare haunts me.

What was I supposed to make of it?

**Thanks to all those who are still reading. The story will get better. Just give me a little time! **


	17. Chapter 17

**Blue Belle **

**Chapter 17 **

When I was a little girl, my father always told me that getting involved with humans was dangerous. He told me that they engage in activities that are terrible and entropic to their own kind. They betray, they hate, they slaughter, and they destroy.

That, and to never eat the purple coral.

I never disregarded this warning, but I didn't fully understand it. I guess now it is to late to go back and tell him that he is right.

Humans are foul creatures.

I watched as James slaughtered one of an unknown invading party, then one of that unknown party slaughter him.

I'd never seen so much red in my life.

How was I to say this? I would never be the same. That is the only way I can say it. There are to many cliché's in the details to even be reasonable. It's hard to believe that there are so many of them, despite the fact that they slaughter.

Edward had been in my mind for a long time. I didn't know what to do, because he had disappeared and not come back. I had tried desperately for days on end to get out of the tank, but it was virtually impossible without feet to climb. The strength in my arms is limited.

It's funny. I know when people are desperate they do desperate things. I guess it never occurred to me that I could become this desperate before.

Here were the cold facts, served chilled, hold the gruesome details.

First, I was starving, and I was getting dehydrated (my human side). The water was becoming dirty and I was becoming lonely.

It was one of those times where you reflect back on your whole life and think, "why didn't I do this?"

Secondly, James's bloody corpse is starting to smell.

And lastly?

I'm desperate.

I was worried about Edward. I wanted to know where he went, why he hadn't come back, why I might die in this hell without him.

Maybe he will come to me tomorrow.

But if not I know he will visit me in my dreams.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Blue Belle~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the last day. I knew that I was going to die today; it was not possible that I would survive. If I did, I knew that it was some cruel trick.

I wanted to die.

I just hoped that Edward would be alive and well, and that he knew I loved him, or at least cared.

It was fated, there was no escape. My immortal testimony.

It made me sad to think about the family that I had left behind, the life I might have lived.

But, as Edward had once read to me Shakespeare, I guess I can quote him on this.

"It is better to have loved, and lost, then to have never have loved at all. "

That was so true. It was painful to think of such a human like sacrifice, but it was the truth.

Just like in Romeo and Juliet, we had apothecaries. The only poison they made, they made and gave with all serious intent.

The poison that would kill your mermaid.

The desperate do things that even other desperate people cannot sympathize with.

I was that desperate.

I knew as I fought the battle for life that this was my only chance of surviving. It would be hard, so hard to even think of living a life among the humans, but somehow, I felt as though I was meant to survive.

There was something that I must do, and to do that, I needed to live.

I don't know anything, not even why or how.

I just know that there was a voice in the back of my head whispering to me;

_Live. _

Now, I don't know, it could've been that part of you that warns you when you are in danger, the part of you that always wants to stay attached to the body, scared of the world as much as Peter Pan's shadow probably was when it got lost.

I don't think that that was it, but my rational brain had taken control. It said that was what it was.

Ay me!

I pulled it out from its safe pocket in my top and eyed it in disgust. It was the color of rotten seaweed.

My first instinct was to put it away as soon as I opened it, because, if the look was any indicator, it smelt like…I don't even want to make a simile for that.

Lets just say it smelt worse than James's dead body. That bad.

However, being on the brink of death when you are dead set on living (pun not intended) you don't really have time to care how it smelt or what it looked like.

You just do it.

And I did.

Yes, the taste was really bad, too, but I didn't even have time to feel the after taste before the first sensation struck my body.

It was like someone had stuck a stick up my ass. My whole body went straight, my back bending at the feel of ever atom of me turn to steel.

Then there were wicked convulsions, which were as ugly to feel, as they were to watch.

The worst part being that I could not just…black out or sleep.

No, I felt all of it.

It was the farthest thing from unpleasant you might even think of. Farther from the Sun to the next galaxy. That's how far from simply unpleasant it was, if you could imagine.

Be it as it may, it was over soon. Not soon enough, but I was thankful it was over as fast as it began.

Granted, it left me feeling like I had about ten people's equally intense hangovers, but I knew then and there I would survive.

Then I made the mistake of breathing in.

I choked, and I could just barely feel the burn of the water entering my lungs with this hangover times 10.

_Survive_

There it was again! Damn it! That voice.

No dwelling on things. It was a fast jump from moment to moment as I did what the voice wanted.

I survived.

Pushing against the wooden door at the top of the tank.

Gripping the rungs on the side of the tank below that same door, I pulled myself so my face was inches from the door, steadying my unsure feet, I pushed hard.

A few shoulder clashes later, my vision was fading. At long last, I did it. Letting my head come up first, all I could do was cough and splutter and franticly draw in breaths for a full minute and a half whilst my head pounded and my heart beat like it had just restarted.

I was waiting for it to sink in.

However, the only thing that seemed to be sinking in was nausea.

I had to let my physical self catch up with my mental race.

One question seemed to echo in both my mental state, my physical mind, and my reality.

What the hell did I just do?

**…**

**What the hell did I just write? **

**That was, let me tell you, completely unplanned. I had come up with ideas but they completely clashed with the plot, so I had to improvise. **

**Anybody know where Edward went?**

**Shout out to the reviewer ImaniSechelles, who reminded me at a very good time why I love writing on FF so much...pleasing readers! I hope you are as pleased with this chapter as I was! Review!**

**Thank you for reading! **

**-Gracegoddess**


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